Staff and volunteers, who have been based in Oxfam’s two shops in Sincil Street are teaming-up and moving into bigger premises, after snapping-up a modern unit in the city’s sought after Cornhill shopping area.
Commercial agent Banks Long & Co has let numbers 15-17 Cornhill to the charity, on behalf of its client Lincolnshire Co-operative.
The deal means that the Oxfam team, which is due to begin trading from its new site from Thursday, January 26, will be able to offer an ever wider range of goods, from clothing to books and CDs.
Strangely enough, the charity is actually moving into premises which it originally considered a couple of years ago.
Oxfam Central England Operations Manager Penny Walker said: “We are looking forward to welcoming long-standing and new customers to our new premises.
“It will be great to have more room to carry a much bigger selection of products and we will have better facilities for our volunteers.
“Our new position puts us nearer to the High Street, so we will hopefully attract extra passing trade from people visiting the nearby building societies
and fast food outlets.”
Mrs Walker said that Oxfam now boasts 21,500 volunteers across the country, in addition to its paid workers.
“Our volunteers are vital to our success and we would love to hear from anyone who would like to work with us at our new premises,” she said.
Oxfam’s move comes as Lincolnshire Co-operative continues to progress its plans to make its £100 million Lindongate project – which aims to breathe extra vitality into the Sincil Street area, including the bus and railway stations – a reality.
The Lindongate project is gaining more and more momentum and Oxfam’s move will make available to rent, on short, flexible terms, two of the units that are planned to be part of the Lindongate project. These units will be ideal for start-up businesses or those wanting to relocate and expand their business into the area, whilst the final preparations for Lindongate are put into place.
Banks Long & Co surveyor Matthew Brooks said: “Oxfam is benefiting from a new, flexible leasing deal, and a competitive rent in a prominent property which is close to well-known national retailers and the High Street, the prime retail pitch in the City”.
